Well it looks like the rumors are all true, Nathan Drake is headed to the big screen. Naughty Dog's action-adventure game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune will have a movie adaptation courtesy of Columbia Pictures with Kyle Ward, who is also tasked to work on the upcoming Hitman 2 and the Kayne & Lynch movie adaptation, penned to write the script.

This week's batch of new Blu-ray movies may be quite limited in quantity compared to the previous weeks, but don't let that deter you from checking out the selection. This time around comedy flicks (Men in Black, Be Kind Rewind) dominate the Blu-ray player, as well as a couple of visceral wildlife documentaries recorded in IMAX. More details in the full article.

In an official press release, game publishing giant Electronic Arts has announced that it will be granting US$ 1 million to the Masters of Digital Media program in the Great Northern Way Campus in Canada. Following a recourse of actions to further the games industry and market in the region, EA will also be focusing on bringing in the next generation of game and interactive media developers.

The grant will serve as funds to improve the program and adapting it to the trends of the industry.

Graduates of the program normally receive a seal approved by four of the region's most major institutions: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. But now it seems they are more likely to receive more than just that.

"Our goal is to help create an innovative educational environment that will lure talented people from around the world to the Great Northern Way Campus," said Paul Lee, President of EA Worldwide Studios. Electronic Arts hopes to invest in the future of the industry by providing the means for students to develop the skills and knowledge for future game design.

In addition to being an endowment, the grant will also serve as a means for providing scholarships to the visionary thinkers deserving of the chance. EA will also be providing paid internships at an - as yet - unidentified development studio within the multi-studio company, offer students mentoring programs and even staff the lecturers and teachers from the company's executives.

'Course we love surfers. They have this cool accent, a smooth swagger when they walk, and those very attractive - uhh, beaks. And feathers. And real live webbed feet for padding through blue ocean waters - not the sort of flippers that humans attach to their gawky feet to help them swim.

We're talking about the surfers of Ubisoft's Surf's Up, an upcoming game on the PC, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii. It's based on a movie to be released by Columbia Pictures, a comedy based on a teenager, Cody Maverick, leaving his home in Shiverpool, Antartica to travel to Pen Gu Island to fulfill his dreams of becoming a pro surfer.

Along the way he meets interesting characters such as Chicken Joe, Reggie Belafonte, Mikey Abromowitz, Lani Aliikai, and Geek. And did we ever tell you that the characters are penguins and a chicken? The game comes on May 22 for all of the above-mentioned platforms, as well as for the PS2, Gamecube and the GBA.

Look at these first screen shots from the upcoming game.

Activision has just released the official fact sheet for their line of Spider-Man 3 games. Based on Columbia Pictures' upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie, the games promise to give players a chance to experience both movie-based as well as original 3.

Among the features that they have cited in their fact sheet, Activision mentions that players will be able to not just take on the adventures of our favorite webslinger, but those of his evil alter-ego symbiote costume as well. By playing as Venom, our hero's strength increases dramatically. However, the catch is that the longer that you take on this dark persona, the harder it is to control its will, and there is a chance that it might even take over you completely.

Besides having Venom as an alternate persona, players will also be able to freely roam New York City and take on missions as they please. However, just remember that in such a vast city, villains are bound to be scattered all around, and you will have to choose which bombing, hostage crisis, robbery, or other incident you will attend to first if you want to be able to rescue all those who need rescuing.

Besides your familiar roster of supervillains, there are three city gangs and their followers which you will have to deal with. Considering that the new AI has been amped up, and a new combat system has been implemented, it can be assumed that controlling these hooligans won't be a cakewalk.

Bound for release this May, Spider-Man 3 will be making appearances on the Xbox 360, the PS3, the Wii, PSP, NDS, PS2, GBA, and the PC.

 

Just a couple of days ago, Yair Landau announced that Sony Pictures is working on the Metal Gear Solid movie. Now to support that is a report from Hollywood Reporter about Columbia Pictures is currently negotiating getting the rights to MGS.

Don't get confused. Columbia Pictures is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Anyway, Michael De Luca will be producing and Hideo Kojima himself will act as executive producer for the movie. The production team also includes Sony's Doug Belgrad and Sam Dickerman, Josh Bratman (who introduced the project to the company), and Rick Privman of JEA will also executive produce.

As the MGS series have spawned numerous merchandise (comic books, action figures, and guides), it's really no surprise that the movie would be most anticipated. The only thing we have to think about now is when will the movie be released.

And the bigger question... Who will play Solid Snake?

With four days to go before the Consumer Electronic Show, Sony's just announced their own itinerary for the event. Their Backstage Theater will be a showcase of their wares, with features for electronics, movies, music - and of course - video gaming.

Visitors will be treated to performances by musicians like Joshua Bell and Sara Bareilles. For the movie fans, there will be a viewing of never-before-seen footage for the "Spiderman 3" flick, along with other previews. Gamers can expect to see Sony's PS3 console and accompanying game demos.

The Backstage Theater will be listed under Booth #14200, with full sked details posted below. For the guys heading to Las Vegas next week, don't forget to check out the other innovations making coming up, like the dual-format players, or Nyko's new Zero controllers. Rest up - Next week's going to be big.

The full schedule of events after this jump!

These days there are three ways to get your hands on the upcoming PS3:

• You can place your pre-order.
• Camp out at the nearest store to sell PS3 (but do it NOW)
• Place a bid on eBay (which could start at US$ 2,000)

Okay, so that's two ways to get your hands on a PS3. One is way too expensive, the other forces you to drop out of school or quit your job. Unless you count the one PS3 that GameSpot is giving away in their After Hours Trivia Challenge.

The GameSpot After Hours Trivia Challenge starts tomorrow at 12:00 pm Pacific Time and ends at 12:00 pm PT on October 19. The Contest is open only to registered GameSpot members who are legal residents of the 50 United State (except for Arizona, and the District of Columbia) and all joiners must be at least 18 years of age or older as of October 16. Once the contest starts, head right on to GameSpot's trivia questions page and answer the questions as best as you can.

Your entry must be your original work and never been submitted in any other competition or previously published. It should not be offensive. One winning Entry will be chosen by a panel of judges on or around October 19, 2006. Any ties will be broken by tie-breaking trivia questions. That would be soooo cool.

You can view the full contest game rules on GameSpot. The prize, as you know by now, is PS3 and two controllers (worth about US $700). So PS3 fans, start tuning in to Jeopardy!

 

The brains are taking center stage as we give you Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man's high-definition gameplay videos from Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. These two characters are probably the smartest ones in the Marvel Universe.

Mr. Fantastic or Reed Richards in real life, is a child prodigy who excelled in mathematics, physics and mechanics. He went to prestigious universities like the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, and the fictional Empire State University. He earned Ph.D's in both physics and electrical engineering while working as a military scientist - all this by the age of 22.  

The gameplay video shows Mr. Fantastic can, well, do fantastic attack combos. His ability to stretch his arms and limbs plus turn into any shape he pleases make for very interesting attack combinations. A personal favorite is when he turned his arms into nunchuks. Needless to say, long range attacks are his specialty.

On the other hand, Iron Man or Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark entered the undergraduate engineering program at MIT while only 15 years old and graduated at the top of his class. At 21, he was already running his father's company, Stark Industries, which later became Starks International.

He is shown in this gameplay video flying about and blasting away enemies with his repulsor beams. His best attack in this video is probably the last one, where he went nuts and disposed of all his enemies in one blast.

Both these brains also have some serious brawns, so be careful not to get on their bad side. Thanks to Wiebke Hess for sharing these goodies.

Download: [Iron Man Character Trailer]
Download: [Mr. Fantastic Character Trailer]

Buy: [Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for PS3]
Buy: [Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for Xbox 360]

EA recently announced the newest addition to one of its games, NBA Street, which was first unveiled in 2001. The streetball videogame is currently in development in Vancouver, British Columbia by EA Canada and is slated for a Spring 2007 release. EA hopes that casual games and sports fans can still be thrilled by the games easy pick-up and difficult to master gameplay, with progressive visuals and some of the biggest gameplay moments in action sports.

The fourth chapter of NBA Street series expands on the fast-paced 3-on-3 basketball gameplay that has made the franchise a hit. The game, according to EA, creates a hyper-real world that merges legendary courts with the hometown courts of your favorite NBA stars into one seamless city of streetball moments. Earn a name for yourself and garner respect as you progress along your hometown journey and become a legend.

The new version of NBA Street will be available for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. For now, all we can offer is a teaser which features one of my personal favorites, the multi-talented star player of the Denver Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony.

Download: [NBA Street Teaser]